The marine environment contains many animals with minimal or poorly developed nervous systems. Many of these animals have evolved systems to emit light in response to stimulation by contact with other animals. The general mediators for this release of visible light are trans-cellular and intra-cellular calcium ion messengers.
Many marine animals use Calcium Activated Photoproteins (herein know as CAP or CAPs) that luminesce in response to a local increase in the calcium concentration allowing the calcium ion to interact with the protein. For purposes herein, the word “calcium” refers to aqueous calcium ions in their ionic +2 state.
The increase in local calcium ions applied to the protein causes a conformational change to the protein that either directly releases light energy, as is in a calcium activated photoprotein finalizing the oxidation and release of its stabilized oxidized luciferin and light, or calcium ions binding to a luciferin binding or luciferin carrier protein, causes the luciferin carrier protein to release its stored luciferin in proximity or directly complexed with its luciferase or calcium activated photoprotein, and thus generate light by the oxidation of the luciferin within the luciferase or allowing renewal of spent (oxidized) luciferin by presentation to the photoprotein.
The present disclosure teaches new Coelenterazine analogs that significantly modify the color and activity of Coelenterazine utilizing luciferases, and calcium activated photoprotein light emission. The present invention discloses the use of novel techniques utilizing CAPS to enhance visual experiences of various audiences as listed above.